A Psychologist Has a Blunt Theory About What's Really Driving the Male Loneliness Epidemic - VICE
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A psychologist argues the male loneliness epidemic isn't about isolation at all — it's about how emotional illiteracy, baked in from boyhood, leaves men unable to connect even when surrounded by people.
Emotional SocializationAlexithymiaSocial Identity TheoryMasculinity Norms
Theory Briefing
- Men's loneliness epidemic may stem not from being alone but from lacking the emotional vocabulary to build real closeness.
- Psychologists link 'alexithymia' — difficulty identifying and expressing feelings — disproportionately to men raised under stoic masculinity norms.
- Socialization that teaches boys to suppress emotions creates adults who struggle to sustain the vulnerability that deep friendships require.